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I've not updated this journal for a good while. I've been having serious problems with the shrimp tank. First of all, when I went on holiday I got a huge black beard algae problem that I failed to control adequately. The moss tree and the grass died off somewhat and everything just didn't look right - I don't know if the soil had become exhausted...I still don't really know.

Anyway, shrimp were dying off rapidly and I couldn't work out why. All water parameters were stable - no nitrates above ~5. Very strange.

To cut a long story short, I have taken drastic action. The tree is gone - the dead moss was harbouring huge amounts of mulm that I didn't want in a potentially diseased tank. I've added more plants and moved a lot of the grass to a thin band along the front only. I'm now doing 60-70% water changes every day or every other day. Deaths have reduced and I was two or three weeks without one the other day...but I lost another over the weekend.

In brighter news, the shrimp are breeding now - for the first time - so I'm pleased about that at least.

Here's how the tank looked after ransacking it.

Here's how it looks today.

No real hardscape any more. I'm not really sure where to go from here.

Maybe one of those small stump pieces that have long, skinny roots running off. Have that sort of in the center and have the roots sort of stick up through the plants, I think that'd look nice maybe.. Maybe just go to your lfs or look online till you find rocks or wood that interest you.

A piece of driftwood or something to help break up the emptiness of the top half of tank. Or maybe a few small floating plants. The roots of the floating plants in my shrimp tank are always covered with shrimp.